The WIP online publication adopted by MIIS

Katharine Daniels Kurz founded The Women's International Perspective in 2007 in an effort to amplify the voices of women in the news.

And for the ensuing seven years, Daniels sometimes felt lonely in her efforts to make the online publication thrive. Since she has been the driving force for most of the tasks of putting out the publication — from assigning stories to editing them and mentoring writers — there was little time for her to do fundraising and thus ensure the sustainability of the site.

That's all changed now, with The WIP becoming a publication of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. The relationship that had begun at the publication's inception, with the help of interns and other support from MIIS, was formalized last month with the relaunch of the publication in its new home and under a new banner.

Daniels now has an office in the MIIS campus in Monterey, a stipend to help produce the site and an institution that will help find financial sponsors.

Daniels' excitement is palpable. In the few weeks she has been on campus, she's felt welcome and supported, she says, something she has not felt in her seven years going at it almost alone.

"It's an amazing opportunity and a new era for the WIP. I can't wait to see where we go with this partnership," she said.

Daniels has big ideas for the publication. She wants to translate articles into other languages — something that MIIS students will likely help with. And she wants to open the publishing world to international writers whose proficiency in English has probably kept them from getting their work published on her site.

To exemplify this point, Daniels points to an article published Friday on The WIP. Penned by a Pakistani journalist, "Language Discrimination in Pakistan Harms Women and Indigenous Culture" tells the story of an 8-year-old girl whose chances of moving up in the world are slim because she does not speak English well. Daniels wants to address this discriminatory barrier by providing more publishing opportunities for women who may not be very proficient in English.

The partnership "is a good fit," she said. "One of the themes at MIIS is for students to be part of the solution, and The WIP has always been about finding solutions to a multitude of problems we face. We really see a website that's for everybody; it's about world issues with a woman's perspective."

The site will also help MIIS professors publish for a wider audience, both Daniels and MIIS Provost Amy Sands said.

"The goal of this partnership is for The WIP to become the "go to" place for women from around the world to publish articles about critical policy issues from women's perspectives, while providing a platform for the rich and unique voices of Monterey Institute students, faculty and alumni," Sands said.